Best Thrift Shops in Paris

Two of my favourite things – Paris and thrifting. Inherently,
Paris is not cheap. Getting to Paris, staying in Paris, eating in Paris – it’s
all a fortune. We do score some flight deals from time to time, but once you’re
there, it’s definitely not a cheap city. It is, however, spectacular. From the
must-do’s on everyone’s sightseeing list to just walking the streets, it’s just
as wonderful as the depictions.

I have had the opportunity to travel to Paris five times and
over a number of years. Each time I go, I get to check a few time must-sees off
the list. This last time, we got in a good amount of shopping, which was so
fun. And, more exciting than that, we managed some thrifting! We window-shopped
a few “vintage” shops, which are really code for Chanel bags that are still WAY
more than I’m up to spend. I’ve never actually felt shunned in a thrift store
before, but French vintage shops were a whole new world.

After the vintage attempts, my older kids and I decided to try out a couple of other thrift shops in Paris. We did the Saint Ouen Flea Market, which was such an experience. We found some treasures, including old jewelry, record shops, and the Shein of Paris in kiosk version. We even found some
amazing old furniture shops, which I will consider when we are furnishing our dream home.

The best of the best. Here is what we loved:

Kilo Shop

This place is what it sounds like – you pay by the kilo. With different prices points for different things, they weigh out your purchases. This place was very cool and very well curated. What I did find funny was that there were a lot of American brands, definitely even some imports from Target and such. They had some fabulous pieces and a great overall atmosphere. They even had a section in the basement where some of the thrifted pieces had been altered and updated.

I believe that there is more than one location, but we love to stay in the Latin Quarter, so we shopped at the Saint Germain location (125 Bd Saint-Germain, 75006, Paris, France).

Free’P’Star

Much less organized or polished than Kilo Shop was the Free’P’Star located in the 1^st. There was more than one location and we found two of the three located nearly next door to the other. We had to walk our purchases out of one store and into the next to pay. This felt more like thrifting in a thrift shop than a vintage or upcycled situation.

Definitely, they had a lot more edgy options (like an entire rack of cool leather jackets), sculptures, and such. Bonus to this was a bin of €1 items, where I found some great tops and an oversized trench coat.